The study on the economic fertilizer requirement for paddy production on a Malaysian soil

This initial exercisewas to determine the paddy yield response functions with fertilizer application on a Malaysian soil in order to incorporate the economic consideration of the Malaysian  fertilizer  cost  and paddy  price  variations.  The  yield  response curve for  each fertilizer could be described by a quadratic equation and this can be used in fertilizer rate prediction. The fluctuating fertilizer  costs  and  paddy  prices  were  used  to  estimate  the economic fertilizer rate.  It was found that the economic fertilizer rate for each N, P, K fertilizers without subsidy were 130.96kg/ha, 41.57kg/ha, 64.20kg/ha respectively for the chosen soil types. The simulation revealed that the economic fertilizer rate and maximum profit were influenced by the current fertilizer cost and price of paddy with the assumption that subsidies were not given for the fertilizers.Keywords: optimum fertilizer requirement; economic; paddy production; maximum profi

The use of in vitro gas production technique to evaluate molasses supplementation to mulberry (morus alba) and rice straw mixed diets

Mulberry foliages have high nutritive value (protein content, digestibility and degradability), therefore it is potential to be used as a supplement to poor quality roughages. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of addition of fermentable energy in the mixed of mulberry and rice straw basal diet. A control diet consisted of either rice straw (RS) or urea treated rice straw mixed with mulberry foliage (URS) with ratio of 60 : 40%. Treatment was formulated by supplementation of control diet with molasses (as sources of fermentable energy) at 3 levels (5, 10 and 15%). The study was conducted in a 2 x 4 factorial experiment, consisted of 2 levels rice straw (untreated and urea treated) and 4 levels molasses supplementation (control and 3 levels for molasses). Diets were evaluated using in vitro gas production. The fermentation kinetics was determined from the incubation of 200 mg sample during 96 hours. The calculation of the kinetics based on exponential equation P = A+ B (1-e-ct). A shorter gas production test was carried out to determine truly degradable fermented substrates (in vitro true organic matter degradability/IVTOMD) by incubating 500 mg of samples 24 hours. The result showed that there was no significant interaction between rice straw treatment and molasses supplementation on fermentation characteristics, in vitro true dry matter digestibility, fermented substrate and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) production. However there was a significant interaction between rice straw treatment on partitioning factor (PF), gas produced, propionic acid production and ratio between acetic acid and propionic acid. Molasses supplementation significantly (P0.05) decreased gas production and ratio of acetic to propionic acid, and increase PF, propionic acid production in untreated rice straw mulberry (RSM) basal diet. It is concluded that molasses supplementation to RSM diet decreased gas production and ratio of C2/C3, and increased PF and propionic acid production. Key Words: Mulberry Foliage, Molasses, Rice Straw, In Vitro Gas Productio

Modelling equation of knee force during instep kicking using dominant’s leg in football

This paper presents the biomechanics analysis of the football players, to obtain the equation that relates with the variables and to get the force model equation when the kicking was made. The subjects delivered instep kicking by using the dominant’s leg where one subjects using right and left leg. 2 Dimensional analysis was conducted by using Silicon Pro Coach software. Based on the findings, the velocity and distance was identified as significant to the kick force model. The highest average force of kicking for dominant’s right leg is 5879.60N, the highest average velocity is 8.2m/s with distance kick as much as 47.85m and the multi linear model equation is ŷ = - 18.1+ 711x1 + 0.146 x2 + 396x3. The highest average force for dominant’s left leg is 8486.0N, the highest average velocity is 11.71m/s with distance kick as much as 50.8m and the multi linear model equation is ŷ = - 0.073 + 724x1 + 0.00114 x2 + 0.40 x3.Keywords: kicking; biomechanics; distance; force; velocity; angl

Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens Fed Various Components of Candlenut Kernel

One-hundred male broiler chickens (Cobb500) were assigned randomly in a completely randomized design (CRD) into four dietary treatment groups to determine the effects of various components (whole kernel, kernel oil, kernel defatted) of candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) kernel on growth performance, carcass yield, and proximate and fatty acid composition in meat during the grower-finisher stage. Each treatment consisted of 5 replicates with 5 birds for each replications. From 21 to 42 days of age, the birds  were offered either one of the following dietary treatments namely;  Basal diet containing no candlenut kernel (T1), Basal diet containing 2.5% whole candlenut kernel (T2), Basal diet containing 2.5% candlenut kernel oil (T3), and Basal diet containing 2.5% candlenut kernel defatted (T4). The significant difference was determined when the probability level was p<0.05. Birds fed the experimental diets showed no significant difference on growth performance, carcass yield, and proximate and fatty acid compositions in meat. However, birds fed diets containing various components of candlenut had small effect on reducing feed intake, decreasing crude protein and crude fat contents in meat, and increasing total C18:2n-6 and n-6 PUFA. In conclusion, supplementation of various components of candlenut kernel in broiler diet did not improve growth performance, carcass yield, and proximate and fatty acid compositions in meat

Early-phase neuroplasticity induced by offline transcranial ultrasound stimulation in primates

The use of ‘offline’ transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) protocols is of particular interest in the rapidly growing field of low-intensity TUS. Offline TUS can modulate neural activity up to several hours after stimulation, suggesting the induction of early-phase neuroplasticity. Studies in both humans and nonhuman primates have shown spatially specific changes in both the neuromodulation target and in a distributed network of regions associated with it. These changes suggest that excitatory or inhibitory effects are a result of a complex interaction between the protocol used and the underlying brain region and state. Understanding how early-phase neuroplasticity is induced by offline TUS could open avenues for influencing late-phase neuroplasticity and therapeutic applications in a wide range of brain disorders

Effects of Dietary Oil Supplementation with Different Fatty Acid Profiles on Rumen Fibre Degrading Bacteria Population in Goats

Effects of dietary oil supplementation on the predominant rumen fibre-degrading bacteria population were investigated. In this experiment, rumen fibre-degrading bacteria population were evaluated on 16 fistulated male goats that were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: T1: control/basal diet (CNT); T2: basal diet + olive oil (OL); T3: basal diet + palm olein oil (PO); and T4: basal diet + sunflower oil (SF). The oil content was supplemented at 6% of DM bases. Rumen content was collected from each individual animal and the DNA was extracted accordingly. The number of rumen fibre-degrading bacteria was enumerated via real-time PCR method. Significant difference (P0.05) were observed for Ruminococcus albus in supplemented diet as compared to T1. The other two fibre-degrading bacteria, Fibrobacter succinogenes and R. flavefaciens were not highly affected by the supplementation of the dietary oils. This study has demonstrated that supplementation of dietary oils with differing fatty acid components has no impact on the predominant rumen fibre-degrading bacteria which benefit the animals by providing extra energy from the dietary oil supplementation without compromising the ability of rumen fibre digestion process

Horizontal axis wind turbine performance analysis

The present work uses the method of Blade Element Momentum Theory as suggested by Hansen. The method applied to three blade models adopted from Rahgozar S. with the airfoil data used the data provided by Wood D. The wind turbine performance described in term of the thrust coefficient CT, torque coefficient CQ and the power coefficient Cp . These three coefficient can be deduced from the Momentum theory or from the Blade element Theory(BET). The present work found the performance coefficient derived from the Momentum theory tent to over estimate. It is suggested to used the BET formulation in presenting these three coefficients. In overall the Blade Element Momentum Theory follows the step by step as described by Hansen work well for these three blade models. However a little adjustment on the blade data is needed. To the case of two bladed horizontal axis wind turbine, Hansen’s approach works well over if the blade radius is RB the calculation should start from r = 0.1RB

The effect of price discount and free gift on online entrepreneurs’ business performance in social commerce

Marketing is one of the two main activities in social commerce (s-commerce) where this type of e-commerce is dominated by sole entrepreneurs. Marketing requires a large allocation of cost while financial resources of the online entrepreneurs are limited. Thus, they need to focus on the most effective marketing strategy. Studies pertaining to the effect of marketing tools for online entrepreneurs’ business performance in s-commerce are rather limited. As such, this study assessed the relationships between marketing tools (price discount and free gift) and online entrepreneurs’ business performance in the s-commerce platform. The findings of this study may serve as guideline for online entrepreneurs, apart from adding to the body of knowledge in the fields of entrepreneurship, marketing, and s-commerce

The effect of polarity on the lightning breakdown voltages of palm oil and coconut oil under a non-uniform field for transformers application

This paper presents a study of the lightning breakdown voltages of Palm Oil (PO) and Coconut Oil (CO) under a non-uniform field with consideration on the polarity effect at various gap distances. All tests were carried based on a needle-sphere electrode configuration and various gap distances ranging from 2 to 25 mm under positive and negative voltage polarities. Three different testing techniques were used in this study including rising-voltage, up-and-down and multiple-voltage methods. The PO used in this study was Refined, Bleached and Deodorised Palm Oil (RBDPO) Olein. Three different samples of RBDPO and one sample of CO were tested. The Weibull distribution was used as a statistical approach to determine the withstand voltages of all samples at 1% and 50% probabilities for each type of oil. Under positive voltage polarity, it was found that the 50% breakdown voltages of RBDPO and CO were comparable with Mineral Oil (MO) whereby the highest percentage of difference among all gap distances was less than 15%. RBDPO and CO have lower 50% breakdown voltages than MO under a negative lightning impulse for which the highest percentage of difference can be up to 40%